MGH Official Provides Latest Update on Museum

An artist’s rendering of MGH’s Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation. (Courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital)

As the keynote of the Beacon Hill Civic Association’s 89th annual meeting last week, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Museum Director Peter Johnson provided an update on the Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation.

The 8,000 square-foot, two-story building, including a rooftop garden, is currently under construction at the corner of North Grove and Cambridge streets, adjacent to the Resident Physician’s House. Construction should be completed in December to mark the end of the hospital’s bi-centennial year.

“It will serve as the capstone for our 200th birthday celebration,” Johnson said.

The museum is named for longtime MGH physician and Beacon Hill resident Russell, whom the hospital’s Web site describes as “a pioneer in the field of transplant surgery and chair of the MGH History Committee.”

Johnson said the first floor of the museum would permanent exhibits that focus on the history of MGH, but parts of the displays would change to accommodate newer stories.

“We always want to emphasize what’s going on now and in the future as much as our past,” Johnson said.